If you are thinking the title of this entry sounds a little familiar, it is an homage to humorist Will Rogers, who opened his performances with the line, “All I know is what I read in the papers.” If he were performing today, he might well use the variation in the title — but I would be willing to bet that he would still be reading the papers.

I began thinking about Will Rogers after a couple of seemingly random incidents. In my mind, they seem to serve as proof of Gabriele Veneziano’s theory of quantum physics; that everything is connected. And as I have discovered, sometimes those connections can be quite astounding.

The first incident President Obama’s speech on the deficit last week. The relevant point is during the speech, when cameras cut to various shots of the audience. One of these shots caught Vice President Biden as he was apparently nodding off — completely asleep, it appears. (He was not the only one; a couple of women behind Biden can also be seen apparently visiting the realm of Morpheus.)

The second incident happened last night. I have a book of quotes by Will Rogers, and for some reason, I picked it up and started flipping through it. As it happened, I opened the book to the page that held this quote:

“Why sleep at home when you can sleep in Congress?”

Or as Rogers might say if he were around today, Why sleep at home when you can sleep while listening to the President?